Watch out, there's a Weddell seal about

SEEMINGLY lazy Antarctic seals are in fact fierce and cunning predators, say marine biologists who have been investigating the animals' feeding habits.

Weddell seals hunt out of sight under the ice, so Terrie Williams of the University of California at Santa Cruz and her colleagues strapped video cameras on the backs of four seals to study their behaviour (Science, vol 283, p 993).

The seals flushed out small fish hiding in loose ice by blowing bubbles at them. "They eat these little fish like hors d'oeuvres," says Williams. For the main course they stalked metre-long cod, striking from below at 2 metres per second and wrestling their catch to death on the ice. "I have a whole new appreciation for the seal," says Williams. "It's like a lion."

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